“How I Screwed Up Domain Hires” - Nicolas Kopp, Rillet
Rillet founder Nicolas Kopp believed domain experts could learn any role given the opportunity. He learned the hard way that startups don't have enough time — and it cost him three months of runway.
What happens when taking the unconventional route backfires?
Nicolas Kopp is the CEO and founder of Rillet, a company that builds accounting software designed to automate manual bookkeeping tasks. He launched Rillet in 2021 after experiencing accounting frustrations firsthand at previous fintech and banking firms where he worked.
When it came to building his team, Nicolas prioritized customer empathy over everything else. Why bring in a traditional product manager when you could train an ex-controller who had lived the customer's daily frustrations? he thought. His approach seemed sound enough. Domain experts would build better products because they understood the pain points firsthand.
But it takes time to onboard startup employees, and while some domain experts have the skills to adapt quickly, others don't. Nicolas wasted three months of precious early-stage runway figuring this out the hard way when promising hires couldn't ramp up fast enough on technical skills like sales tools and outbound processes.
I over-indexed on individuals who understood our core customer with the belief that you can learn anything and everything if you put your mind to it.
Nicolas Kopp
Founder at Rillet
After learning this lesson, Nicolas developed a framework for when to bet on domain expertise versus proven skills — and created his own playbook for setting unconventional hires up for success. This helped him transform accountants into product leaders and customer success champions.
In this episode, Nicolas unpacks...
Early signals that an unconventional hire is succeeding, from customer feedback loops to founder intuition about work quality
Why "committee hiring" produces mediocre results and his alternative approach to finding candidates who are exceptional at one or two specific things
Tactical examples of successful retraining, including how he taught an ex-auditor to lead user research calls and why doing the work together initially is non-negotiable
For founders wrestling with the tradeoffs between proven experience and raw potential, this episode offers a masterclass in nuanced hiring decisions. You'll walk away with a framework for identifying when domain expertise matters most — and how to transform unconventional talent into your company's secret weapon.
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